Commission Opinion [COM(97) 2003 final - Not published in the Official Journal]Commission Report [COM(98) 702 final - Not published in the Official Journal]Commission Report [COM(2000) 710 final - Not published in the Official Journal]Commission Report [COM(2001) 700 final - SEC(2001) 1753 - Not published in the Official Journal]Commission Report [COM(2002) 700 final - SEC(2002) 1409 - Not published in the Official Journal]Commission Report [COM(2003) 676 final - SEC(2003) 1211 - Not published in the Official Journal]Commission Report [COM(2003) 657 final - SEC(2004) 1200 - Not published in the Official Journal]Commission Report [COM(2005) 534 final - SEC(2005) 1354 - Not published in the Official Journal]
Treaty of Accession to the European Union [Official Journal L 157 of 21.06.05]

SUMMARY

In its Opinion of July 1997, the Commission expressed the view that Romania had made progress in adopting the Community's transport acquis. However, its entry into the internal transport market should remain subject to rapid alignment of the acquis. Shipping and road haulage were the sectors most likely to pose problems, especially with regard to safety. Steps had to be taken to ensure that the basis was laid for extending the future trans-European transport network to include the acceding countries, and the present shortcomings of the road network had to be rapidly overcome. Romania's administrative structures, including the bodies supervising such areas as safety, also had to be rapidly and substantially reinforced.

The November 1998 Report confirmed that, although Romania had made progress in transport harmonisation, major efforts still had to be made, particularly on road and maritime safety. No specific improvements had yet been made to administrative structures. Romania had to prepare a detailed programme for the establishment of competent bodies to manage the acquis, including the identification of training needs where appropriate.

The October 1999 Report confirmed that although overall progress had been made on improving administrative capacity, a number of areas had still to be strengthened, in particular vehicle roadworthiness tests, road inspections, certification of rail safety, safety of air transport and the implementation of the acquis in the field of maritime safety.

In 2000, Romania made particularly good progress with the transposition and implementation of the transport acquis. While the technical aspects related to transposition were not difficult issues, the implementation of the various adopted laws was likely to be long and complex and Romania had to secure adequate financial resources to implement heavy investment directives.

The November 2001 Report emphasised that Romania had made good progress with harmonising its legislation. In the short term, however, Romania needed to concentrate on three major issues which had yet to be tackled: the fiscal harmonisation of road transport, maritime safety and restructuring TAROM, the national airline.

The October 2002 Report noted that Romania had continued to make progress in aligning its legislation, especially in the area of road transport, and that it had started to reorganise the institutions responsible for inland waterways and maritime transport in order to make them more efficient.

The 2003 Report indicated that Romania had made further progress in transposing the transport acquis and setting up the requisite administrative structures.

The 2004 Report noted that Romania had made good progress in acquis alignment and in establishing the necessary administrative structures, particularly in the areas of road, rail and air transport. There had also been some progress in the area of maritime transport, but only limited progress on inland waterways.

The 2005 Report notes good progress with Romania's legal and administrative frameworks for most modes of transport. At the present rate, legislative alignment risks being late only for inland waterway transport. Romania also needs to step up its capacity to plan and manage the trans-European transport networks. Lastly, the status of public-private partnerships needs to be clarified.

The Treaty of Accession was signed on 25 April 2005 and accession took place on 1 January 2007.

COMMUNITY
ACQUIS

Community transport policy consists of initiatives in three fundamental areas.

The Europe Agreement provides for harmonisation of Romanian legislation with Community law, cooperation aimed at restructuring and modernising transport, improvement of access to the transport market, facilitation of transit and achievement of operating standards comparable to those in the Community. The White Paper focuses on measures for the accomplishment of internal market conditions in the transport sector, including such aspects as competition, legislative harmonisation and standards.

EVALUATION

As regards trans-European transport networks, Romania has continued to develop and rehabilitate its infrastructure. At the beginning of 2000, provisions concerning certain types of combined goods transport entered into force. An order was adopted in 2003 to promote partnership between the public and private sectors.

However, the 2005 Report indicates that Romania needs to step up its administrative capacity to plan and manage heavy investments in transport infrastructure. With regard to the order of 2003 referred to above, the status of public-private partnership contracts needs to be clarified urgently in order to avoid any misuse.

As regards land transport, new legislation has been adopted with regard to safety advisers for transport of dangerous goods and supply of public services in road and inland waterway transport. In the roads sector, rules have been adopted on driving licences and admission to the occupation of road haulage and road passenger transport operator. In April 2002, Romania ratified the multilateral European agreement on international occasional carriage of passengers by coach and bus (INTERBUS), the implementation of which will result in partial alignment with the road passenger transport acquis.

The road transit agreement for the carriage of goods was signed with Romania in 2001. Its implementation will result in an increased number of transit authorisations for both Romania and the EU. Transparency must also be ensured in the distribution of authorisations under the EU-Romania transit agreement.

An Ordinance of 2002 introduced the concept of collecting fees for the use of road transport infrastructure. The level of road user charges will gradually increase with a view to ending discrimination between Romanian and Community hauliers.

The Road Traffic Code has been updated, with harmonisation of the provisions on driving licences and compulsory use of safety belts. Progress has been made in the field of fiscal harmonisation. Charges for exceeding the admissible total weight, axle load or dimensions have been set for the period 2003-2007.

However, implementing provisions still need to be adopted in some technical fields, notably concerning vehicle registration documents and digital tachographs.

As regards rail transport, legislation on the transport of dangerous goods by rail has been tightened and, following the division of the national railway company into five companies in early 1999, the restructuring of the rail sector continued in 2000. However, the Romanian authorities need to be able to rely on sound administrative structures and ensure the necessary transparency when implementing the restructuring measures.

The freight transport sector has been fully liberalised; five different operators have been licensed and subsidies are no longer provided. In 2003 a Government Decision was adopted on the interoperability of the conventional rail transport system.

In 2004, alignment was almost complete, though a regulatory body needed to be set up as a matter of urgency. Network access rights for foreign railway undertakings and the rail licensing regime need to be brought in line with Community legislation by the date of accession.

The 2005 Report notes the lack of a regulatory body in the rail sector and indicates that the Romanian railway authority (AFER) still needs to issue a complete network statement in operational terms.

Activities in the field of inland waterway transport have suffered greatly from the blockage of the Danube following the Kosovo crisis, which has deprived this sector of the financial resources necessary to adapt itself to the EU acquis. The practical aspects of compliance of Romanian vessels with EU norms might be difficult, for economic reasons, given that the target of the Romanian authorities is access to the Rhine. A ministerial order has been adopted to transpose the EU rules on access to the occupation of carrier of goods by inland waterway.

However, legal alignment with the inland waterway transport acquis was still not complete in 2005. This was the case, for instance, in respect of access to cabotage for non-resident carriers and the establishment of the Inland Waterway Fund. The technical state of the fleet improved in 2005, but further restructuring is still needed to ensure compliance with the technical standards set by the acquis.

As regards air transport, secondary legislation entered into force on the licensing of air carriers, technical investigation of accidents, and certification procedures for planes and auxiliary products. Romania signed the Montreal Convention regarding air carrier liability. In 2002, legislation was adopted regarding the investigation of accidents and incidents in civil aviation. A law of 2002 introduced a denied-boarding compensation system. A ministerial order on access to the ground handling market at airports has also been adopted. In 2003 the national air carrier TAROM continued to implement its restructuring plan.

In 2004, alignment of legislation was almost complete. However, in order to maintain the high standards that generally apply in the air transport sector, the capacity to hire qualified staff must continue to be ensured.

In 2005 the Commission started negotiations with Romania regarding its participation in the European Common Aviation Area Agreement.

In 2000, Romania made progress in adopting the acquis in the field of maritime transport by a series of legal measures (vessels carrying dangerous goods, enforcement of pollution prevention and shipboard living and working conditions).

However, flag state inspections and port State control need to be considerably improved in order to effectively implement the requirements under the different maritime conventions and the EU acquis in the field of maritime safety. Romania met its target of having fewer than 10% of vessels detained in 2004 (4.2%). However, it still needs to do more to ensure that it meets its objective of having the Romanian flag removed from the Paris Memorandum of Understanding blacklist.

In 2004 most of the acquis (including the Erika I and II packages) had been transposed. Romania now needs to transpose safety rules and standards for passenger ships and maritime equipment, and the Prestige package. These three groups of legislation were adopted in 2005 and now need to be evaluated by the Commission.

The Romanian Naval Authority has produced an action plan to improve maritime safety and launched a comprehensive inspection programme for ships flying the Romanian flag. The problem of the independence of the Naval Authority still persists, and the links between officials and the private sector need to be reduced so as to ensure the quality of inspections.